A powerful and searingly honest memoir about a young woman who loses her family butfinds herself in the process.In this astonishing debut, Claire Bidwell Smith is just fourteen years old when both ofher charismatic parents are diagnosed with cancer. With an impatience typical of youth,Claire throws herself at anything she thinks might help her cope with the weight of thisharsh reality: boys, alcohol, traveling, and the anonymity of cities like New York and LosAngeles. By the time she is twenty-five years old they are both gone and Claire is verymuch alone in the world.What is so remarkable about this tale is not always the story itself, but rather Claire'sability to let you into it. Both the clarity of her self-reflection and the unconventionalframework the author uses to navigate her story turn the memoir genre on its head andmake this book impossible to put down. Bringing a fresh eye to the world of grief, thisbook is evocative of both A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius and The Year ofMagical Thinking, and Claire's journey is at once heartbreaking, uplifting, and utterlyunforgettable.